AP Interview: Advisor says New Zealand used virus luck well

AP Interview: Advisor says New Zealand used virus luck well

SeattlePI.com

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A scientist who has played a key role in New Zealand's lauded coronavirus response says the nation used it's luck well to stamp out the disease and is now eyeing the experiences of other countries to determine when it can reopen its borders.

Juliet Gerrard is the chief science advisor to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She described in an interview with The Associated Press the evolution in the country's approach to COVID-19, from the chaotic early days to the risk-reward calculations it faces moving forward.

Ardern this month appointed Gerrard to a second three-year term, saying she plays an "invaluable role." Gerrard, 53, a professor at the University of Auckland whose research is in protein biochemistry, was this year awarded the honorific “Dame.”

Gerrard said that when the virus first hit last year, the information about it was changing so quickly she would need to scrap advice she thought was solid just days earlier.

“There was no time at all to do any kind of considered scoping or written pieces. It was all verbal,” she said.

She said Ardern wanted to know the minutiae.

“I was just constantly bombarding her with sound bites, information, graphs, whatever she needed," Gerrard said.

"She always says to me that she’s not a scientist, but I think she is a scientist. She thinks in a very scientific way. She loves to see all the data in the details," Gerrard said. “And the reason I think she communicates it well is because she’s really drilled down into the detail and then helicoptered up to see how to simplify the message.”

Gerrard said that perhaps the most important early advice she provided was in comparing case studies from countries like Italy, Iran and Britain, where the initial responses went badly, to places like Singapore, Hong...

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